Oilers cleared of wrongdoing regarding last season's LTIR usage

The NHL’s investigation into the Edmonton Oilers’ usage of long-term injured reserve last season regarding winger Evander Kane has been closed, deputy commissioner Bill Daly tells Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News. The league found Edmonton did not circumvent the salary cap, and the organization will not face any resulting penalties, either retroactive or for the upcoming 2025-26 season.

Back in June, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported the league was extending its inquiry regarding Kane’s eligibility for long-term injured reserve. The league routinely examines teams’ manipulation of the cap-offsetting outlet to ensure that all placements are medically valid and aren’t solely being used as vehicles to allow the club to carry over-the-cap rosters in the postseason — a ’loophole’ that’s getting closed this year anyway.

It’s never been formally reported why the league was unsatisfied with the initial documentation they received from Edmonton regarding Kane’s LTIR placement. There may have been scrutiny about the timing of the multiple procedures he underwent, both during last offseason and in-season, that forced him to sit out the entirety of the 2024-25 regular season. The Oilers and Kane waited until days before training camp to have him undergo a wide-ranging surgery to repair a sports hernia and hip/abdominal issues that had plagued him the previous year, and he then had an initial knee surgery in January to repair a congenital defect that delayed his recovery timeline past the end of the regular season.

Yet, Edmonton only barely dipped into the additional flexibility Kane’s LTIR placement afforded them. They didn’t move him there from standard IR until just before the trade deadline, and he wasn’t cleared to return at the very beginning of the playoffs. His 2025 postseason debut for Edmonton had to wait until Game 2 of their first-round win over the Kings.

That last stipulation could be why the league is coming away satisfied with their assessment — either that, or they’re now assured the reasons for the seemingly delayed timing of his surgeries were medically valid.

Kane had six goals and 12 points in 21 playoff games for the Oilers. The team parted ways with him days later, dealing the final year of his contract at a $5.125M cap hit to the Canucks for a mid-round pick.